Feedback

* Mrs. McGillicutty: I just finished your article on Heloise and was thinking how nice it would be to have her column in your paper.

Editor: Thanks for the suggestion. She's popular, no doubt about it.

* I hate to beat a dead horse, but Lillian of Hampton is right. Just what is an Italian accent? I'm an Italian. Both of my parents were born in Italy. And I don't remember them having an Italian accent. These slurs are getting sickening, and you people had better start thinking about what you're publishing rather than just publishing something because somebody said it sounded like an Italian accent.

Editor: We stand by our decision to run the description. We included it because the sheriff's department thought it was important and requested that we do so. There's nothing inherently bad about an Italian accent (or any other accent for that matter) and reporting that a suspect had one doesn't indict the entire ethnic group.

* This in response to Lillian, who has a problem with law-enforcement people identifying people of a particular descent, like Italian. It's getting a little tiresome of people who want to further restrict law-enforcement agencies from finding criminals. If there's some indication that they are of a particular dimension, then that should be information you follow up on. That's one of the things that helps you find criminals.

* Crystal Jones: I really enjoyed the article written by Keith Rushing in reference to segregation. He really should be writing more human-interest stories. Thank you for the history lesson.

Editor: Keith appreciates your kind words.

* Ann Ferris: I want to say thank you for your summation of how Bush and Sharon differ on the peace talks, and I wondered if possibly you could publish a map, like you did for Afghanistan and Iran and some of the countries when there was such a problem over there. If you could publish the Palestinian-Israeli area showing what belongs to whom and what is disputed.

Editor: We've run maps recently, but we'll try to run one again soon.

* George, Williamsburg: On Monday, we witnessed a very high-speed chase in California; however, not a single word in your newspaper. What's up?

Editor: High-speed car chases covered by TV news helicopters make great live video. We cover them when they happen locally or when there are other news angles that make them noteworthy. Otherwise, we let CNN handle it.

* Joan Gayfield, Hayes: I wanted to mention that the headline, "Attack casts doubt on Israel's efforts to end terror," is not at all accurate. I'm sure that was either a bad mistake or perhaps that's your real opinion. But it happened to be the Palestinian attack on Israel that killed 16 people.

Editor: The headline and story focused on the fact that the Israeli people remain vulnerable to homicide- suicide bombers, despite Israel's efforts in the past several weeks to eradicate the strongholds in Palestinian territory where these terrorists are trained and nurtured.

* Darrell W. Harris, Yorktown: Perhaps a more appropriate headline would have been "Attack leaves no doubts about Arafat's efforts to end terror."

* This has to do with an article on the front page of Wednesday's paper. It says, "Attack casts doubt on Israel's efforts to end terror." It appears to me that your paper and a lot of others are anti-Semitic. Your articles are slanted toward the Palestinians. Why in the devil is it Israel's responsibility to settle this issue when the terror that is being done is being done by Arafat and the Palestinians? I wish you would put something in your paper that would clarify that because you're totally wrong in your approach to this issue.

* Paul McCarthy: I read Gregory Kane's column in today's paper and thought it was absolutely wonderful. I've been critical of the Daily Press but printing articles and columns like that is absolutely perfect. "Someone Else," the person that always did these crimes, that nobody wants to be responsible for.

* Jo-Ann, Hampton: Since I can be the first to criticize, let me say thank you for the clear reasons why you endorsed the three candidates who won the empty seats on Hampton City Council. I believe your message in your endorsement was continuity and the public's needs first. Also, the editorial in Sunday's paper explaining why the Power Plant and maybe the Crossroads Convention Center could give Hampton the boost it desperately needs cleared up many questions that I have had about this multimillion dollar effort.

* Ellen Graham, Williamsburg: On Tuesday, the Daily Press carried an AP story about safety concerns at many of the nation's older nuclear reactors. A chart that ran with the story showed that among the "Vulnerable Reactors" are Surry Units 1 and 2 in Surry and North Anna Units 1 and 2 in Richmond. When is the Daily Press planning a detailed explanatory or investigatory piece looking at the significance and potential dangers of this oblique revelation?

Editor: We ran a story on the Surry and North Anna plants on C3 Wednesday.

Bobbi Parker: I have another problem with the staples other than having had my finger cut on them. I had my TV guide folded over open to Tuesday prime time and it was lying on my bed and when I went to pick it up, there go the staples -- ripped my comforter. I wish you all would do something about it. From now on, I'm just taking mine out as soon as I get it.

Editor: It's a problem that continues to vex us. We're not going to give up until we get it fixed.

* Tom Orrell: How does one get a book review done by the Daily Press that was written by a new, unknown local author?

Editor: Amanda Haskins (247-4884), who works in the newsroom library, writes a column on the Sunday books page about new local books. She'd be glad to talk to you.